CBS dumped by local affiliate

WJXT TV-4 will be independent station

By Nancy McAlisterTimes-Union staff writer,

After more than 50 years, Jacksonville's WJXT TV-4 is ending its relationship with the CBS Television Network to become an independent station. The reason, said the president of the station's parent company Post-Newsweek Stations, is a failure to see eye to eye on economic and philosophical issues.

The change means the station that for years was home to the CBS Evening News with Dan Rather and such popular shows as Everybody Loves Raymond, 60 Minutes and The Young and the Restless will be cutting ties to the network that offered them and will instead put together a schedule that combines local programming -- particularly news -- and such fare as syndicated programs and off-network reruns. One immediate impact will be a near doubling of Eyewitness News programs and the launch of a 10 p.m. weekday newscast.

The switch to an independent will likely occur "sometime this summer," according to Post-Newsweek Stations President Alan Frank. "It's as much up to them." A CBS spokesman said an announcement will be made in a few weeks as to what station in Jacksonville will begin airing its programming. "We have a number of choices that we're evaluating and a number of discussions we're having," said Dana McClintock, vice president of CBS Communications.

Yesterday's announcement, which was delivered to the TV-4 staff by Frank and TV-4 General Manager Sherry Burns, came after several months of speculation that such a parting could, in fact, occur. The station had been operating under a one-year extension of its affiliate contract, Frank confirmed.

One of the issues of dispute was station compensation -- the money networks pay affiliates to carry their programming, which traditionally is aired in the early morning hours, the afternoons, prime time and late-night hours. (Only the Fox network is said not to offer such compensation to affiliates.)

In recent years, stations have battled over decreases in those monies and a move to even eliminate them altogether. Frank said CBS was going in the direction of no compensation. Another key point was network demands about carrying live programming, which Frank and Burns said sometimes came at the expense of local news shows.

"They've changed how affiliates and networks work together and how much affiliates can control their own destiny," he said. "We were moving into a direction we did not like."

CBS did not address the issue of compensation directly, saying only it offered TV-4 "a good package." McClintock called WJXT a strong station that the network wanted to continue a relationship with, "but at the end of the day we weren't able to come to an agreement."

Burns called the move to an independent station a testimony to the strength of the station. Staff members reacted to the announcement with what one called tough, probing questions but excitement. "The positive is it's more news, more opportunity to interact with the community," said Gary Corbitt, a station veteran and director of research. "It builds on the strengths," he said, citing record-breaking viewership for such syndicated shows as Frasier and Inside Edition.

Susan Adams Loyd, vice president and general manager of WAWS TV-30 and WTEV TV-47, called it a bold move by TV-4.

"That's pretty gutsy, especially wth CBS being as stong as it is and carrying the Jaguars locally," she said.

She and Ken Tonning, general manager of WTLV TV-12 and WJXX TV-25, both predicted that it will be more difficult for TV-4 to be as successful as it currently is without network shows such as afternoon soap operas on which to promote its own programs.

"JXT and Post-Newsweek are good people," Tonning said. "They're good competitors and they know good product. They'll continue to be a factor in this marketplace. It's a tremendous opportunity for us."

Loyd said it is "not out of the question" that WTEV TV-47 could end up as Jacksonville's CBS affiliate, because UPN is owned by Viacom and together the two own CBS. (TV-47 is a UPN affiliate.) "Have we speculated? Certainly. Would we be a CBS affiliate? If it's best for our company and our employes and our community, certainly we would."

Although the TV-4 affiliation agreement with CBS expires officially July 10, according to the Washington Post's annual report, the network agreements for the other five stations all run at least through the end of 2004.

Steven Barlow, an analyst at Prudential Securities in New York who follows the Washington Post Co., said he thinks the company would be hurt if TV-4 lost its network affliation because it would likely reduce the number of viewers for the station. "There would be financial implications," he said.

Barlow also said CBS would likely be hurt because the alternatives in the market to pick up CBS programs are all UHF stations that have a weaker signal than TV-4's VHF signal.

"It doesn't seem like CBS has a terribly good hand in this situation," Barlow said.